Venezuela.... your thoughts.

[Lakemonster]

Maybe a few of you arent familiar with the political climate in Venezuela at this time.
The President of Venezuela (Hugo Chavez) is real hot and heavy for all out Socialism and is highly critical of the US these days due to our Capitalist ways.
He has mustered a sizeable army and a standing militia in case of American aggression.
All thru this....... he doesnt seem to mind selling us his oil at a good profit (kinda hard to break old habits, eh Hugo?) Recently he has flirted with the idea of pulling his oil deal with the US...... then flip flops and says he wants to sell cheap oil to help poor Americans.
You may recall a statement by Pat Robertson lately suggesting a US perfomed assasination of Chavez......... that didnt help in the attitude dept.
Basically , what we are staring at is a possibility of all out civil war in Venezuela OR they turn into what Cuba is like to us today. This is a rather scary notion to this side of the hemisphere since we tend to like to keep all these nations truly democratic.
 
Have anything to add....... or have an opinion?

[Highpockets]

Chavez is incredibly popular amongst the poor in Venezuela, as he has
been using oil profits to fund social services. Currently he enjoys 70%
approval in his country. The only people who don't like him (and they
really despise him) are the wealthy elites. Unfortunately, the private
media in Venezuela is controlled by Chavez-haters, and they don't give
such an accurate picture. I wouldn't expect any serious civil war to
break out there, as Chavez enjoys too much support.

As far as his socialist leanings, I say so what? The latest reason of
the day for the war in Iraq is spreading democracy. Well, Chavez has
been democratically elected twice and has survived a recall vote. It
seems very hypocritical to say we are out to spread democracy in one
region, but the people of Venezuela have no right to elect the leader
they want in charge of their country through legitimate elections.

In the wake of the hurricane Chavez has offered discounted gas and
other aid, which is very unlikely to be accepted. But in the end, I
can't really see what gets people so heated about this guy, except for
the fact that rich people are finding it a little harder to make money
at the expense of the underclass. This isn't the Cold War, and there is
nothing to fear from Socialism or Communism, and its time those words
lost their stigmas in this country, they refer to legitimate political
philosophies, not unbridled evil.

[Lakemonster]

I personally agree with your outlook towards Venezuela. IF they are doing what they want without hurting anyone else....l.. then I say let them be.
My only concern would be if they became hostile to surrounding nations with the help of some possible new found friends (Red China?)
 
We have dealt with Cuba for the last 40 years without incedent...... perhaps this will work too.

[Highpockets]

Latin America has taken a pretty leftist bent in recent years, most
notably in Brazil and Ecuador, so it seems that Chavez is making
friends amongst his neighbors rather than enemies. The biggest concern
is Colombia, where it has been alleged that Chavez has been helping out
the paramilitary group FARC. If this is true, then certainly it will
cause a deep rift. But as of now it seems unlikely that any real
security threat will be started.

[Aggroman]

It's very unfortnuate that for the last century the United States has
felt the need to crush efforts by any nation that  makes a serious
effort to alleviate the plight of the poor.  What Venezuela has
been doing  lately is quite remarkable in terms of their efforts
to redistribute land, improve the living standards in the barrios,
provide health care and education to all.  Some look at these
things and scream "communism..." but I think saner minds view such
initiatives as basic, decent actions that every government should take
for the sake of its people.

I can understand our friend Lakemonster's perspective, given the way
events have been mutilated by the mainstream media.  For one, the
weapons Chavez recently brought in were in direct response to perceived
Colombian (nothing to do with the U.S.) aggression and an uncovered AUC
plot to assassinate Chavez. 

Why is Chavez upset at the United States?  Well, Chavez's reforms
have seriously P-O'ed the wealthy elites, as Highpockets
mentions.  Giving land to the poor means taking it from the
rich.  Distributing oil wealth and nationalizing companies means
less profits for local and international companies.  These elites,
of course are Washington's natural allies.

If you want to take a look at an almost identical situation, I
recommend you dig up some stuff on Chile, when Salvador Allende came in
with a very similar program to Chavez's (distributing baby milk to poor
neigborhoods, nationalizing the copper mines to keep the profits inside
the nation).  The rich here too were outraged in an identical
fashion and Washington was quick to act, sponsoring a coup in which
Allende was murdered along with thousands of other Chileans.  I'm
sure most in here are aware of the brutal dictatorship under Pinochet
that followed.  Documents have been declassified under Clinton
that the coup was indeed directly initiated by the U.S., Mr. Henry
Kissinger being the architect.

I'm quite certain that we will find out that the same thing happened
during the recent Venezuelan coup, when Pedro Carmona attepted to seize
the Presidency.  Only a week before the coup, he was in Washington
meeting officials.  A "business" meeting... so they say.  Of
course, we will need to wait another 30 years or so before the records
come out on this one, so until then, there's no proof.  But
Goliath's record speaks for itself.

That said, Chavez is a threat to no one but the pocketbooks of the
wealthiest 20% of the nation.  One can see why a fat cat like Pat
Robertson would feel the way he does. 

Cheers